On Nov. 1, 2004, then-President George W. Bush stood onstage at Moody Coliseum at Southern Methodist University in Dallas for election eve rally as he sought a second term. Voting was hours away.
"Ten years ago, when I first ran for governor, I had my last campaign rally in Dallas, and we won," he told the cheering crowd. "Tonight, after six other stops, I'm having my last campaign rally in Dallas, and we're gonna win."
Dallas helped give rise to the Bush political dynasty — first, to 41st President George H.W. Bush, and later to his son, George W. Bush, who served as Texas governor from 1995 until he was elected president.
"The Bush family has left a tremendous legacy in both the nation's politics and specifically in Texas and Dallas," said SMU political science professor Matthew Wilson. "[George W. Bush] did a lot for the Republican Party in Texas. In many ways, when Bush was president, those were the good old days for the Dallas GOP. That was when Republicans were riding high in Dallas County."
More than 20 years later, as Republicans prepare to gather in Dallas for an unusual midterm convention, Bush — and many of the policies he and his late father championed — are largely absent from today's Republican Party.
Wilson said after Bush's re-election victory in 2004, his views defined the GOP. Like his father, Bush embraced the so-called three-legged stool of Reagan conservativism. He used American military power abroad, believed in free, global markets with a liberal immigration policy, and a faith-based social morality.
"What we have seen since, Trump and the MAGA movement seems ambivalent, at best, about all three of those," Wilson said.
Similar to his father — who had been vice president to Reagan — George W. Bush ran to lower taxes and reduce government. But he also launched No Child Left Behind, administered by the federal Department of Education. And he supported humanitarian efforts abroad like the global distribution of HIV and AIDS treatments that saved millions of lives.
Today, President Donald Trump is trying to dismantle the Education Department, and early in his second term ended USAID, which funded global disease-prevention & nutrition programs.
Texas historian Michael Phillips said as much as today's party has changed, the Bush legacy Trump has carried on is ongoing support from evangelical Christians.
Phillips said Bush locked in his GOP leadership because of his faith.
"He could talk church. He had a conversion story," Phillips said. "He was kind of lost, he was vague about substance abuse and alcohol. That kind of redemption story is a very critical part of evangelical culture, which really made him seem legitimate."
Trump retains that evangelical support—about 80% of white evangelicals voted for him in 2024.
While Phillips said Bush's impact on the GOP "has pretty much vanished," SMU professor Matthew Wilson argues Bush-era politics — and George W. Bush himself — are still popular with many Republicans. Namely, Dallas Republicans.
"I think he is both socially and politically embraced by them," Wilson said.
The place Bush Republicans have in today's party is unclear, said Bill McKenzie, a longtime Dallas Morning News columnist and a senior editorial adviser at the George W. Bush Institute, which is housed within the presidential center.
"I still think that there are a number of compassionate conservatives who are there," he said. "Are they waiting for somebody to give voice to them? Are they voting someplace else? I don't know."
KERA requested an interview with Bush but was told he has retired from politics — as he's said on many occasions. He skipped the 2024 Republican convention, and when Republicans are in Dallas next week he'll be busy with events tied to the 25th anniversary of 9/11 — events planned months before the party gathering was announced.
Bill Zeeble is KERA's education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
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